Women in Construction: How One Woman is Shaping the Future of Industrial Design

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios, it’s time for Women in Motion. Brought to you by WBEC West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of Women in Motion. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. And this month, we are highlighting women in construction. And so excited to be talking to my guest today, LaDonna Kaiser with Precision Industrial Engraving. Welcome.

LaDonna Kaiser: Thank you.

Lee Kantor: Well, before we get too far into things, tell us about Precision Industrial Engraving. How are you serving folks?

LaDonna Kaiser: I started just very small as a stay-at-home mom business, serving the company my husband worked for making control panel plates. And that’s, hence, how I got my name, Precision Industrial Engraving, I recognized most engraving shops, served awards and trophies, gift items and such, but the focus of my business has been more electrical OEM, a lot of control panel plates, valve tags. So, I serve a lot of wastewater treatment plants. Even have some things up in NASA and the Hoover Dam, kind of everything, more geared, AutoCAD and technical drawings.

Lee Kantor: So, can you share a little bit about your journey? You mentioned you started through a contact that your husband had at the time. Was this something you’ve always wanted to do? Like what was your path to getting even involved in this industry at all?

LaDonna Kaiser: Well, that’s the funny part. I went to school to pursue a career in agriculture. That is my passion. But I had started my family and could not imagine leaving my children. So, the opportunity through my husband’s work happened that I could start engraving tags and control panel plates for his company at home. So, I knew nothing about engraving, about CorelDRAW, about running a business. It was quite the, first year, learning all of it and struggling through it. But I have since worked with the Small Business Development Center and numerous other people with score and currently, of course, the WBEC. And so, I’ve had a lot of help along the way to figure out how to continue my business.

Lee Kantor: So, I don’t know anything about this industry. I would think you need special equipment. Is that accurate or not accurate?

LaDonna Kaiser: Yeah. So, there’s a variety. Like any industry, it evolves from rotary engravers or scratch engravers to, now, everything’s mostly gone with CO2 lasers and YAG lasers. So, I no longer have the mechanical engraving equipment. I’ve gone all laser between YAG and CO2. So, the difference that that the YAG laser makes is I can engrave directly into all metals. CO2 lasers do not do that. That might be more information than you know, but it’s kind of my edge in the industrial world, engraving soft metals.

Lee Kantor: Now, is this something where you’re the actual person that does the engraving, or is it you have a team of people that do that side of the business?

LaDonna Kaiser: Well, my team is almost graduated, two of them graduated college, and my next one’s a senior. My family has been my team. So, it’s me, myself and I which has been kind of running in the business and working on the business. I wear all the hats, and I have, time to time, had a couple of employees, but I also run a farm and have been a fulltime mother. So, it’s been comfortable to keep it small and manageable for me.

Lee Kantor: And then, what about the kind of business growth? Like, how do you get clients and you must do a great job to keep them?

LaDonna Kaiser: I spoil my clients as much as possible. I love building relationships, getting to know them. I’ve even traveled everywhere as far away from where I am in northeastern Nevada, but I’ll travel to California and up into Idaho and actually visit my customers and see where my plates end up on military bases, or at the job sites, at the treatment plants. And I really try to make an effort to know them. And when they need something on the side or mugs or gift items, I love to send all kinds of things I can do to let them know I appreciate them. A lot of my customers have been with me for about as long as I’ve been in business, almost 25 years. But word of mouth has been by far the strongest way I’ve gained new customers.

Lee Kantor: Now, as the technology changes and the industry changes, how were you able to stay on top of that to be kind of ahead of your customers, so that you always had the right stuff they needed when they needed it?

LaDonna Kaiser: There is a great organization in engraving called the… it’s a big awards… I’m going to ruin their name, awards and recognition, and they have several huge shows. One is in Vegas that I attend each year, and it’s a pretty huge deal. And everyone, all the suppliers, bring their new equipment. A lot of things, lots is moving even beyond lasers and going into laser printing and other processes. And I’ve not gotten into that. I’m still doing the lasers because it seems to serve what I need for permanence in the industrial world best. But just industry trade shows and periodicals is the best way for me to keep up.

Lee Kantor: And how do you go about kind of learning how to use the new equipment when you do change equipment?

LaDonna Kaiser: I’ve learned, I purchased my equipment from companies that offer great support with their products. And so, my lasers, I’ve primarily gotten through Universal Laser, and they’ve been phenomenal helping me troubleshoot and set up. They’ll send a guy out and spend a day with me, or I’ll go to their location and go through everything I need to know. But mostly from the supplier, the manufacturer’s support. You can get equipment that costs an awful lot less, but you’re pretty much on your own. And when you’ve got a machine down, it becomes a crisis pretty quick. So, I’ve been pretty choosy who I get my equipment from, so I know I always have that support to keep running and keep the flow going and keep customers happy.

Lee Kantor: And that’s a great lesson for other business leaders, right? And you may pay more, but you’re getting a level of support that you may not get at some of these lower price providers.

LaDonna Kaiser: Correct. That is very true.

Lee Kantor: Now, any advice for other women who might want to get into this field? It sounds like it enabled you to have some flexibility and include your children in the operation. Is it something that can be done out of the house or a small facility or?

LaDonna Kaiser: It is, absolutely. I think it’s an awesome opportunity for other women who don’t want to have to make the choice to go to work or raise their children because I’ve always had a shop on our property, that has been my business. Only once did I try a commercial location in town when I thought I wanted to get into trophies and more of the customers with awards and such, and I learned that wasn’t for me and wasn’t for my family. So, I would encourage anyone who’s interested to please reach out, come to my website and reach out to me or my email, or just call me, and I will mentor you the whole way. I didn’t really have a mentor, so I would love to help someone who wants to get started in this field and teach them whatever tricks I can.

Lee Kantor: So, you think that… I mean, in your part of the country, it seems like, there’s a lot of demand for your services. Is this something that’s spread out around the entire country that people all over-

LaDonna Kaiser: It is. I’m a national company, so I ship probably 95% of my orders. Most of them are in the western United States, a few back east, a few to Canada and Australia, and I have a little bit of local business, but I’m kind of filling in because we don’t have any local engraving or awards shops. So, locally, I’ll do like the city plaques and fair plaques, but my industrial business is national based for the petroleum industry, electrical industry, tons of data plates, manufacturer plates. So, you don’t have to live anywhere in particular to do this job. You just have to be able to get to UPS.

Lee Kantor: That’s right. So, is that where your kids come in?

LaDonna Kaiser: So, yeah, kids have helped me with a lot of tie wires and checking off nameplates. And since they were little kids, they’ve helped. And knowing all the graphic programs that actually helped them in school, and they’ve been able to do a lot of cool stuff just knowing things and what they’ve learned in this business.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, you were role modeling. You know how to be an entrepreneur. That’s a gift you’re giving them.

LaDonna Kaiser: Yes, they’re all kind of heading on that path, not in this business but in other endeavors.

Lee Kantor: So, why was it important for you to become part of the WBEC West community?

LaDonna Kaiser: Well, I’ve known about it for a long time. And then, I took a class. My daughter was getting her MBA, and they needed a business as a kind of a guinea pig to work on. And so, I kind of joined their team, and they introduced me more to this group, and they just thought, “Wow, you can make some great connections and resources and just be another strength to have more success with your business with, especially in some of the larger businesses where they specifically want women to purchase from.” So, I did go through the lengthy process to become a certified woman-owned business. And I’ve loved it because there are more podcasts and women to share all their success stories and tricks. And we’re all in different businesses, but business is business to a certain point. So, I’ve learned so much about AI and customer relations and just every aspect of business. So, it’s been a great help for me.

Lee Kantor: Now, if there was one piece of advice you would give a woman out there that’s thinking about starting their own business, is there advice you would share about taking that leap into entrepreneurism?

LaDonna Kaiser: Well, I would say make sure your boat is not too far from the dock when you make that leap because it is quite the road. I just leapt in all in. And I kind of drowned for a year until I found people, like this group in the women-owned business circle, and Score and other business resources to help me get ashore again and above water. But, this organization is an awesome resource to help you prepare for what being an entrepreneur and running your own business is all about. So, I would just say look into all of your resources of help, because what… I don’t know, that was my big thing is not knowing where to turn and how to get going.

Lee Kantor: So, what do you need more of? How can we help you? Do you need more clients? You need more workers, more funding to grow? What could we be doing to help you?

LaDonna Kaiser: I guess my deal is sales. I know sales are the lifeblood of any business, and I’m just very busy in my business that I’m not out there meeting new people and getting the word out, reaching new customers, I guess. I don’t do big advertising campaigns. And so, I don’t know how to how to reach more industrial people who are in need of labeling and identifying their parts or their equipment or machinery.

Lee Kantor: So, who would that ideal customer be? Like you mentioned some industries, but is there kind of a person or is there somebody on the team that usually hires you? Or is there an industry that mostly hires you, so our listeners know if they’re that person, they might want to call you.

LaDonna Kaiser: Primarily in the electrical, the bigger electrical contractors that build wastewater treatment plants and huge projects. Anyone who needs serialization or equipment ID, a lot of valve tags, medical instruments, automotive type stuff. Just anything that needs to be identified. I’ve done a lot of wall plates for, like, the Ronald Reagan Hospital in Los Angeles. That was a pretty big project to identify all the circuits in the entire hospital.

Lee Kantor: And if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you, what is the website? What’s the best way to connect?

LaDonna Kaiser: Email is the best. And my website, I have a couple, but if you want to type a lot, it’s precisionindustrialengraving.com or pi-engraving.com for short. Email, LaDonna@Pi-engraving.com.

Lee Kantor: Well, LaDonna, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

LaDonna Kaiser: Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to let people know I’m out here.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Women in Motion.